Wildlife Worldwide Reviews 52

Having travelled with Wildlife Worldwide twice before to other locations I was confident that my trip to Botswana would be good but this simply surpassed all my expectations.
Who would have thought I would be brave enough to go camping in Africa as a single traveller... but I did!

The documentation and information provided about the trip when I booked prepared me very well for the trip and I knew exactly what to expect when camping out in the bush for the very first time.

The abundance of wildlife and sheer immersion in nature is a life changing experience and the tour lead, brilliantly gifted guides and smiling, tireless, camp and lodge teams made this all the more special. Plus of course travelling with a small group of like minded people crazy about our wonderful wildlife.
Thankyou - you all have now have a special place in my memories.

I have just returned from a fantastic tour in Botswana and the Okavanga Delta. It was an amazing experience and a special holiday to remember.
The services from the camp team to the local Tour Guides were wonderful, they were very helpful and friendly. The luxury camping, which was a first for me, was very good, followed by the luxury lodge which was excellent.
We saw lots of lovely wildlife including lions, leopards, elephants, zebras, wild dogs and much more…..plus an excellent selection of birds.
The Tour Manager, Dan was incredible, nothing was too much trouble for him, ensuring the holiday ran smoothly and everyone was well looked after - thank you Dan.
I can’t wait to return to Botswana again and travel to other destinations again with Wildlife Worldwide. Thank you for an amazing holiday!

We have travelled with Wildlife Worldwide all over the world, including the UK. Just recently got back from an amazing trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos. This was a bespoke trip and all the arrangements worked perfectly. The guides, accommodation and travel were all really high quality. Specific needs were always communicated by WW to the various lodges.

Fantastic trip to Botswana with Wildlife Worldwide !
We have been using this company for all our dedicated wildlife trips for 11 years and have never been disappointed!
Normally I would not choose to go camping ,but in this instance I realized that it was the best way to experience Botswana ,and I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the tent and the extremely comfortable bed.The toilet facilities were as described in the holiday details and I soon got used to it .The shower was always warm/hot but you did have to be careful not to use too much water as the bucket wasn’t huge .
Our guide TJ was magnificent ,a mine of information and we had the best sighting of a leopard ever,it came so close it choked me with emotion .We also saw numerous other species including hyena, lion,elephant,giraffe,zebra,antelopes galore,honey badger,wild cats,hippo and well over 100 different birds.The food was absolutely amazing ,our 3 camp personnel made fresh porridge/ toast every morning, lunch was always delicious with fresh bread cooked most days ,afternoon tea and freshly baked cake , followed by a 3 course meal every evening .I’d like to see Master chef contestants conjure up the same meals with just an open wood fire.They all worked like Trojans to move our whole camp twice to different locations still managing to feed us like kings .An experience we will never forget for all the right reasons, so I was horrified to see such a negative review by one guest who was on the very same trip as me !!The holiday details are always very accurate so every client knows exactly what to expect and will not be disappointed .I knew he was upset that he had been given a small single bed ,as was a friend that travelled with us ,but when that was swapped for a double bed after a couple of days ( you can hardly get things changed immediately in the middle of the bush)I thought that all his issues had been addressed .
We are off to the pantanal in Brazil with wildlife worldwide later this year and I’m confident that we will have another holiday of a lifetime as we always do

Wildlife worldwide put together a tailor made trip for 4 of us, to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. The trip was absolutely fantastic! Chris went out of his way to make sure that it met all of our (quite varied!) needs exactly, changing things around when we said we didn’t want an extra night in Quito, and supplying fabulous guides and an incredible boat. Thanks to everyone there for a wonderful trip, we will definitely be using you again for our wildlife holidays.

After reading a review from a person on this trip I felt I had to write a review. Obviously he didn’t read the trip notes!
It was incredible. A mobile camping trip visiting amazing places away from civilisation. The first campsite was 14kms from any other people.
The camping facilities were far better than I expected. Having had a serious back injury I was delighted to see a king size bed with a memory foam mattress inside the huge tent.
Having this luxury and yet still feeling that like you are living in the wild was exactly what I was hoping for.
The bucket shower and bush toilet were perfectly adequate. Everyday after lunch Nick would ask when you’d like your shower and even how hot you wanted your water!
Our wonderful chef “moosa” created the most delicious food, fresh bread and cakes everyday. His porridge was so good, I’ve never been a fan of porridge but his was so yummy.
How he managed to deliver all this food when he only had s camp fire was unbelievable.
TJ, our driver and guide was such a lovely guy. He was so knowledgeable of not only the fauna and flora but also astronomy and history of his beautiful country.
The wildlife was amazing we had countless intimate encounters with such beautiful creatures. Watching four Cheaters going about their business was such a privilege. A leopard walking so close I could have stroked it ( obviously I wouldn’t have tried) Elephants galore and so much more.
I really didn’t want to leave it was such a wonderful experience. Thank you to all of the guys in Botswana and the UK for making such awe inspiring memories.

We have used this company for 8 trips all over the world with the last one in Botswana. The holidays have all been amazing and we can thoroughly recommend them. I have read that one person on trustpilot has put in a bad review of his Botswana trip. We were on the same trip as he was and I can honestly say that every body else loved the trip. The vehicle was not unreliable, yes there was one day when it had trouble starting but it wasn’t a major problem. When we travelled from one camp to another there was lots of wildlife sightings despite what the other reviewer stated. The holiday was as described, perhaps the reviewer didn’t read the details of his holiday, just a thought. The guide was brilliant and we had fantastic sightings of lions, leopards and antelopes etc. A great company to see wildlife with.

There is another review (1-star rated) about the same trip which I did to Botswana, by one of the other five people on the trip, and I am horrified at what has been said. Please allow me to enlighten you with a different view of exactly the same trip.

I have done a variety of safaris, from staying in lodges to basic camping and this level of camping was positively GLAMPING. I am 6'4" and the tent was so spacious (3x4 metres) and high that I could not touch the roof beam. Within that tent was a raised bed with a memory foam mattress on it, plus LED lighting and bedside tables with rugs on an integrated ground sheet. In an enclosure behind the tent was the luxury of a sit-down, deeply-dug earth closet (rather than having to take a spade and dig your own hole in the bush), with a container of earth/ash to "absorb any odours" (the loo paper was a better quality than we had recently had in a 5-star hotel!) and a bucket shower. The whole enclosure had its own ground sheet and then, beneath the shower, there was a mat to doubly ensure that you kept your feet nice and clean after showering in the sub-tropical sunshine. In order to have a shower, you simply had to ask the crew (Nick and Capreel, plus Moosa the wonderful chef) for water (cool, warm or hot were available from their camp fire) to be delivered to your tent whenever you wanted it.
Each morning, we would be woken with a cheerful "Good morning, your hot water's ready", and we would emerge from the tent to find our pair of canvas basins had plenty of hot water in them for a wash around the important bits, before covering up the basin with a towel in order to save the local insects from risk of drowning in the basins (this was the dry season and so any standing water was bound to attract much attention from the passing insect life, of which there was very little).
Even before we had left Ma'un, the location of the arrival airport in Botswana, we had encountered some beautiful birds and then quickly got to encounter our first elephants and giraffes, as well as various antelope species. Once inside the Moremi Gate of the Okavanga, the species count increased and the tracks became more challenging for TJ, our charming, skilled driver and guide.
Dusk does not last long and we arrived in camp just before dark, to the sounds of zebras, lions and hyenas close to camp. After a very sensible "house rules" talk about not wandering off, we freshened up and then enjoyed the first of the many delicious meals which Moosa managed to produce on the pit fire. For me, his star-turn was being able to produce a layered chocolate cake for my birthday, with HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLIVE piped on the top. He also managed to create a separate dish for our fellow guest who had a dietary intolerance. All his food was delicious, and I would love to have him produce a campsite cookery book.
That night, we were aware of an animal digging under the side of our tent, and the next morning we were advised that the scratch marks indicated that we had been visited by a honey badger. How exciting! We had seen one on the drive in, and we would get to see many more throughout the trip.
The next morning, we were horrified to hear the complaints of the other reviewer, and it rapidly became apparent that he had not read the trip notes. He had also come poorly-equipped for a safari. We managed to calm down his demand to be taken back to Ma'un, having pointed out his unlikely chance of getting an earlier flight back to the UK.
That first morning, just as with every morning, found us sitting around a camp fire, eating the most delicious porridge I have ever had, or perhaps that was just the setting of us watching the many varieties of herbivores enjoying their own breakfasts around the dried-up water hole in front of us.
Off we set for our first game drive and we soon encountered our first big cat, a magnificent male lion, who was oblivious to our presence. This was when the splendid isolation of our campsite came into its own, as we sat and quietly watched him for what seemed like ages with no human sounds to trouble us, just the sounds of the Botswana's wildlife filling our ears.
Wildlife Worldwide had kindly produced a species list and I started to keep records of what we saw as we went along. Sometimes, this might just be a fleeting glimpse of a new species of bird flying past us and keeping eyes peeled for such brief encounters became almost competitive. Some of those encounters were too brief for me to identify, but by the end of the trip we had positively identified 142 species of bird and 35 species of mammals, plus various reptiles and others! WOW!
Some of the best opportunities to encounter new species came on the transfer days, as this would take us through different habitats, and all the associated species that go with those different habitats.
I look forward to travelling with WW again soon.

We went on holiday to Indonesia, to Raja Ampat for a snorkelling & bird watching adventure 3 years late due to Covid delays but even with all that time it was very badly planned. The initial beach hotel chosen for us was poor. The yacht was good & its food excellent but although the snorkelling was good when we got to do it it took a hell of a lot of complaining to be allowed to do any. The hikes to see the birds were poorly organised & took preference over everything. The final straw was instead of a house reef to snorkel & a 15 minute walk to see a bird of paradise we got a crocodile infested lagoon & the possibility of a 9 hour hike! Probably the worst issue is the company's failure to acknowledge its shortcomings so there is no hope of them learning from them or likelihood of any improvement so we would not travel with them again.

Luxury Boat trip diving in Raja-Ampat the world best coral reefs with trips to Birds of Paradise:

Our first stay was a cheap run-down back- packers like centre, without any wildlife trails so our first day was largely wasted. On arrival after 2 day travelling, there was no breakfast, we all had to stay hungry and wait till lunch. After dinner the staff came knocking on doors demanding we sign to pay for the food and drink, yet this was supposed to be included on the trip. This was later sorted but should never have happened.

On arrival we were given no introductory summary of the whole trip and during it, there were many empty periods while we moved location no attempt was given to explain the area we were visiting eg lectures on the geology ,wildlife, culture etc we were just dumped to sit and fend for ourselves

Many of the summaries of the days journey turned out to be false, an easy walk up a mountain was in reality treacherously steep, slippy with damp moss over smooth rocks in the dark of pre-dawn or traipsing through wet muddy stream beds and scary 20 minute balancing tightrope walk on broken unstable thin planks over thick swamp which was frightening and dangerous. The staff often seemed unaware of the days detail so all the guests were sitting round perplexed not knowing what the plan was.

The trips to see Birds of Paradise (BoP) were too single species focussed so we ignored much else around, many unexpectedly starting at 4am (once 1:30am!) through steep, dangerous terrain, then on arrival bitten by mosquitos yet on all but one of the 8 trips we did NOT see a single bird of paradise except in a TECNICAL sense. A sub second flick of a feather behind a bush is not to ‘see’ the bird, every time was a failure If it is so difficult that should be highlighted in the brochure. The whole group was very disappointed.

Then talking to a local guide we were appalled to discovered this was the quiet time of year for BoP. It is outrageous that the organisers knew they were selling us a holiday to see them at a time of year when there would be no activity

The coral reef diving was superb when we got it but BoP travels kept on being extended and so the Reef diving curtailed or cancelled when this is what almost everyone had come for.

The key diving location was destroyed by a Chinese mining corporation but we were told it would be replaced “like for like”. Only on the trip were we were told instead we can "just sit on the beach and relax"! We don’t travel round the planet to the world's best diving site to be told to just sunbathe. But arriving there no one could even do that as the waters were full of aggressive sea crocodiles! Another example of no planning.
The only way to get anything done was that all the guests mutinied and forced change and made the boat move to another site. This is not the way you organise expensive luxury' trips.

This trip was not tested or researched in any detail. The poor on-ship guides seem to be floundering and making things up on the go, they were suffering the same lack and misinformation as ourselves and were themselves put into very difficult conditions. These sudden plan changes are not due to out of their control conditions like weather but basic issues that any on the ground agent would know about.
After the trip almost all guests complained about these issues with Wildlife Worldwide but they were intransigent and refused to accept responsibility.

We and guests have been on many luxury wildlife trips, well organised. excellent accommodation, educational and informative and cheaper than this failure of a holiday in which we like many fellow passengers were very disappointed.

Having experienced a number of Safari Holidays before, nothing prepared me for my time in Botswana with this awful company. Requesting a luxury tent and paying before for same, they supplied the most basis accommodation possible, one undersized single bed and nothing else.A canvas washing bag with two inches of water filled twice a day and infested with insects. An outside toilet hole, with instruction given to cover with fire ash when used. When complaining about all round hygiene and general facilities tried to evict me from camp with five and a half hour drive away from nearest town Maun and refusing to mention what one did when taken there. One would have thought they had some legal obligation. apparently in their view not ! A policy of total indifference towards their customers well being. Supposedly Duty of Care towards a customer has no relevance to WW, on what turned out to be a totally miss sold holiday by them. A point taken up with them after and still they refuse to reply on correspondence sent ? Certainly a very unreliable Safari vehicle used, constantly breakdown and no means onboard for lifting or repair punctures when they occurred, also worse still worn out spare tyres, not suitable for use. On a ten day safari one spent four days over forty day light hours travelling from one location to another. Will little or no opportunity to view wildlife. I have been to S Africa, Kenya, India and Brazil on Safaris with other companies and never come across one even as remotely bad or apathetic towards their clients welfare and overall safari experience as Wildlife Worldwide. Contacting them after has proven a total waste of time, basically refusing to answer the many concerns raised. With a contemptuous response that's all part of the safari experience, third rate accommodation in a tent not fit for purpose and the most basic facilities possible. What their idea of a luxury tent is more than confusing and why you pay extra for this, as a pension wanting some creature comforts, still remains a mystery. Seems their instincts are purely mercenary, suggest you avoid with far better Safari holiday companies around. They would honestly struggle to be worse !

Incredible Wildlife Worldwide respond now after NINIE MONTHS, using the same reply they sent to my first complaint approach on a photographic Safari holiday cancelled by them and substituted with another recommended that had little or no resemblance to the one I originally booked for.with them. Using the same distorted truths once again, which when questioned on the veracity of they refused then and now to answer. Knowing what’s said is a pack of lies.
Again avoid this third rate company, as proven no interest in customer well being, honouring an advertised Safari holiday package originally booked and diguisingntheir incompetence by simply distorting the facts.